Orange Coast College

Women's Volleyball: Pirates falter against Hornets

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

COSTA MESA -- The start of the second half of Orange Empire Conference play didn't fare well for the Orange Coast College women's volleyball team as the visiting Fullerton College Hornets defeated the Pirates in four, 25-10, 27-29, 25-20, 25-11 on Wednesday night.

The Pirates (13-3, 5-3 in OEC), who opened conference play with a three-game sweep over the Hornets (10-5, 5-3) back on Oct. 3 in Fullerton, came out sluggish and never could recover, despite a gutty Game 2 performance.

Jessica Bodkin led OCC with 15 kills, while Brianna Fields added seven. Jena Curry and Amanda Cheseborough came up with 12 digs each, while setter Emily Lyon dished out 31 assists.

Fullerton's Reilly Stevens led the offense with 15 kills, while teammate Leah Haproff added 13. The FC defense was anchored by Brooke Raynor with 14 digs, while setter Ally Rios provided 37 assists.

After jumping out to a 3-1 lead early in the opening game, OCC watched the Hornets respond with a 22-4 run, with the majority of those points coming off Pirate errors. Coast managed to pick up a little momentum late in Game 1 and that carried over into a strong second game.

Both teams went back and forth in Game 2 and with OCC leading 23-22, Fullerton turned wide return, a rotation violation and serve into the net into a game-point situation, 24-25.

But a key kill by Fields and an ace by Kari-Ann Hyatt not only erased Fullerton's game-point opportunity, it gave the Pirates one of their own.

Fullerton fought of two straight game-point chances by the Pirates, but OCC wouldn't go away. With the game tied at 27, a Bodkin kill, followed by a long Hornet return, ended the game and evened the match at a game apiece.

Coast hung tough in Game 3 and held a 20-19 advantage before a 6-0 run by the Hornets abruptly ended things. Two kills by Haproff and a kill by Stevens, mixed in by some missed shots by the Pirates enabled Fullerton to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Game 4 was all Fullerton as the Hornets led from start to finish. Trailing 16-10, Coast watched the Hornets step on the gas and rip off eight straight points to cruise to victory.

The Pirates look to turn things around on Friday at Saddleback College, beginning at 6 p.m. OCC returns home to face Cypress on Wednesday, beginning at 7 p.m.